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Oh, and the deal with Carphone Warehouse is mentioned in the article, too. Like I mentioned last month.
Booyah!
First off, it's tough to do this when you keep finding new apps that you decide you must own. I mean, sure, they're free (at least the ones I get), so no biggie, but still.
Anyway, on to the first round of...
This week, I'll be eliminating 10 applications, so grab your scorecards and get ready to start choppin' after the break!
I just realized I have about 75 applications installed on my iPhone... and, on a good day, I use 4. Maybe. At best.
So, starting next week, I will be eliminating a few apps a week in something I call...
I'll likely eliminate applications randomly, until I get 'em down to a manageable size. I will also be only going through my free apps, which is everything but Super Monkey Ball. I will relinquish Super Monkey Ball after I am beaten to death with a wooden cooking spoon.
After the break, the iPhone App Survivor! scorecard. Follow along at home, and bask in the super-nerdism!
Read On!
One of the biggest problems that I have with the internet is that I'm afraid of leaving comments on other people's blogs when I don't know them.
Okay, maybe "afraid" isn't the right word... "Apprehensive," maybe, or "overly cautious," but not really "afraid."
My problem tends to be that the way that I write conversationally is the same way I speak; however, if you speak to me for the first time and I'm not actively thinking of the "right way" to say something, I can come off as something of a douche bag. And, if the person doesn't even have the benefit of seeing me, or hearing me, to tell that I'm not a total piece of crap, they'll just assume that I am. Hence, why I don't comment on websites.
Recently, Justine, Darling Of The Internet™ had a post about an error message she sent to Apple about a kernel crash, referencing the John Mayer iTunes Crash Report incident. It was an amusing post, as just about everything she writes is, and I decided to check out the comments.
Mistake numero uno.
I get through the silliness (which mercifully doesn't involve any "Golly, yer so purty!" bits like this guy... Personally, I'd get kinda weird-ed out if I got a comment like that from a random stranger. Then again, I'm not the sort that would get that sort of comment, so I can't really be objective, I guess.), and we get to the last three posts, which are the following:
A Ethical Hacking course wouldn’t kill a few people and they’re very informative.
“I love the fact that the mac os is built on a linux shell.”
Wasn’t it built on the Unix shell? I haven’t coded in Cocoa that much, or fooled with the MAC OS much lately, but I always remember the MAC OS being built on the Unix shell. There’s also something else, that should be mentioned, but it would require going in-depth on it.
People seem to think a lot, that Unix is Linux, but it actually isn’t. So if someone hacked Linux, that wouldn’t mean they could hack the MAC OS and vice versa. Apples and Oranges.
Alright, a little snippy, but nothing too bad. Then, EdgarJensen responds:
Linux and unix are same dam thing. If you know unix then you know linux. Mac is built on Solaris which is a flavor of unix. All the commands are basically the same.
Well, this is silly, in that Linux is an acronym for "Linux Is Not Unix," so, no, it's not the same "dam thing." Easy, quick, and to the point.
But, Victor decided to come back with something a little more involved, sadly:
I’m not a MAC programmer. But I knew I never heard anyone say, it’s built on Linux, like you said earlier and I’ve never seen it anywhere. I’ve never even heard of it being built on Solaris, or seen it anywhere. Maybe you’re referring to older MAC OS’s, but that wouldn’t be relevant to today’s OS, which you were referring to.
Unix is NOT Linux. Google is your friend, so please use it. Linux is “like” Unix, but if you think Linux is Unix..
Being similar to something, does not equate to being the “same “damn” thing.” Programmers don’t call something the “same thing,” because it’s “like” something else. That’s going off of your personal use and not the actual history, or facts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix-likeProgrammers are often times too specific, but Unix, Unix-like, and UNIX aren’t the same.
Between some factual inaccuracies and his general mean-spirits, I was really, really thinking of commenting. However, what I was going to write was a bit snarky to put on the site of someone who is so seemingly upbeat, especially if that were my first post.
Doesn't mean I can't post it here, though, just to make me feel a bit better.
@Victor and Edgar:
Maybe you were trying to enlighten each other on the facts behind OS X and Google searching. Maybe you were trying to just show off, I dunno. But, in the spirit of "I cannot let someone go unpunished for being wrong on teh interwebz" that you and Edgar clearly live your lives by, I thought I'd quickly give some notes.
1. It's "Mac," not "MAC." MAC is either the address physically printed on a network card or a make-up store in the mall that plays lame techno music while several 12-year-old girls get makeovers.
2. OS X runs on BSD, not Solaris. Yes, Solaris mixes the code for BSD, System V and Xenix to make a Unix Smoothie, but it does not power Darwin, the open-source nougat center of OS X.
3. Google is my friend. We hang out on the weekends. Just sayin'.
4. Let's not confuse Wikipedia for "facts." There's just as much opinion on there as there is truth.
Basically, guys, you're both wrong on some points, and right on some others. Let's just hold hands, be friends, and sing folk songs while making smores or something. Life's too short for arguments this nerdy.
Your pal,
eD!
But, you know, I didn't wanna continue the argument. Not there, anyway.
Over at MacRumors.com, there's a bunch of talk about The Boy Genius Report's claim that Best Buy and Radio Shack will begin to carry the 3G iPhone. Although I have no idea why Radio Shack would get involved with this (who goes there to buy anything more than a funky cable nowadays, anyway?), I can actually see The Blue Monster scoring it under everyone's nose.
According to an AP article I dug up, Best Buy's purchase of a 50% stake in Carphone Warehouse, a European cell phone distributor that Best Buy had previously teamed up with to help create Best Buy Mobile, was completed on Monday. Where this ties in, of course, is that Carphone Warehouse is an authorized iPhone distributor overseas. Add to that the love that Apple has been getting from Best Buy in the recently, and you may have an actual story here.
Ice-cold glass of iced tea? Check. Quicktime stream available? Check.
Looks like it's time for a dead-blog!
In less than a half-hour, Steve Jobs will take the stage at the World Wide Developer's Conference and unleash all sorts of new goodies onto the world, including (most likely) the 3G iPhone, the iPhone App Store, iPhone 2.0 firmware, and, maybe, a new Mac mini replacement.
If you wanna get up-to-the-minute updates about the thing, you're at the wrong site. You'd likely wanna hit up MacRumorsLive.com, or follow TUAW on Twitter (for as long as their servers can hold up). If the video of the keynote is up when I get home, I'll be dead blogging it tonight.
So I'm putzing around on my laptop this morning when I notice a small dot on my monitor; as I'm insanely OCD about such things, I quickly grab my bottle of Monster Screen Clean and start attempting to wipe it away. It stays there, unmoving.
I raise an eyebrow, questioning what the hell is going on. I mean, this computer is two months old, for crying out loud... it couldn't have a dead pixel already, could it?
Yeah, it appears it could.
On the plus side, I have a service plan on this guy, so I can send it out to get the screen repaired. Down side, naturally, is that it'll take anywhere from 2-4 weeks for me to get this stupid thing back. I suppose I could argue that it's been two freakin' months and that an exchange is in order, but I really, really don't wanna have to replace the hard drive in one of these things again.
I swear, when I think I can't have worse luck with electronics, something else proves that my optimism is unwarranted.
AT&T's Mobility CEO said in a press conference today that all the company's smart phones will be 3G within the next few months. When asked if this included the iPhone, he said, and I quote, "Fool, I said all my smart phones. I pity da foo' who don't listen to what I say!"
Well, that's what he woulda said, if the AT&T Mobility CEO was Mr. T. Sadly, that is not the case.
Anyway, it looks like the 3G iPhone will be coming soon, as I Twittered (and the rest of the world actually posted about) when it became apparent that Apple stores all over the place were out of stock on the current generation iPhone. But, I suppose it's nice to have some confirmation of some sort, none the less.
Just over two weeks ago, everyone's favorite Mac Daddy spoke to Apple shareholders about how Adobe Flash, which is used in some form on about 70% of the internet, will not be coming to the iPhone any time soon, as the mobile version isn't "real Flash" and the desktop version is too much of a resource hog to run effectively on a phone without killing the battery power. Of course, what with a majority of sites using Flash, and the iPhone as being advertised as "not the mobile internet; the real internet in your pocket," how Flash can continue to be missing escapes me.
However, Adobe's CEO, Shantanu Narayen, said that they're actively working on a Flash client for the iPhone with the recently-released software developer kit, and will distribute it through Apple iPhone App Store.
"We believe Flash is synonymous with the Internet experience, and we are committed to bringing Flash to the iPhone," Narayen said. "We have evaluated (the software developer tools) and we think we can develop an iPhone Flash player ourselves."
Of course, all Apps in the iPhone App Store must be certified by Apple, and if El Jobso doesn't want Flash on the iPhone, I'm sure they'll find a way to deny Adobe's application access. Whether or not this will begin a massive nerd war has yet to be seen.
UPDATE: Adobe has issued a statement saying, in effect, "We're sorry Mr. Jobs, we don't wanna mess with you. Please forgive us, and let us make our unimportant software for your all-important iPhone. We love you." Wieners.